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(meteorobs) June 20/21 obs. LANMA
Hello everybody,
Sunshine has entered after weeks of clouds and rain here. That provided
the opportunity for some observing, for the first time in over a month (last
previous observations were on May 15/16 and 16/17). Below my data and an
impression. This night was very welcome after last weeks hefty battles
with unwilling database files.
Friday night was still ruined by cirrus, and saturday at first seemed to
be lost due to cirrus too. But the cirrus largely dissolved and last night
saturday/sunday actually turned into a quite good night with Lm between
+6.1 and +6.2. Only between 00:14-00:34 UT some cirrus streaks occupied
the sky (~20% cover). Due to the continuous twilight at these latitudes
(52d N) in this time of the year, the sky remained quite bright, but the
milky way was visible into Aquila, and Scorpius posed low above the horizon.
It was very warm: daytime temperatures are near 30C at the moment, and
last night I could do with only a T-shirt, no jersey or sleeping bag.
I was rewarded with some fine meteors. A fast +1 with 1 sec persistent
train appeared in Ophiuchus at 0:37 UT. Two particularly eye-catching
meteors appeared this night, both in the last observational hour, and
both typical sloooooow members of the omega Scorpiid stream. A magnitude
zero went gracefully through the handle of the big dipper at 0:09:16 UT.
Another long trailed magnitude zero with a beautifull appearance (with a
wake, just like a mini-comet slowly arching across the sky) appeared at
0:37:52 UT, moving from the Saggitta-Aquila border to within the western
wing of Cygnus. This was the last meteor of this night, and a perfect way
to end.
Short after 0h UT one of those Iridium-flash satellites produced a short
magnitude -1/-2 flash in Lyra. Those things are becoming real pests in
the sky, we now frequently observe them with flares up to -5. The
Belgians even reported a -8 flash some time ago. Well, let's not
complain: if Lew's Russian space mirrors become reality.....
A very fine night, with nice meteor rates, nice meteors, pleasant frog
choirs and the occasional visit by bats.... More nights of this kind please!
This was my 12th observational night this year. I have now logged 363
meteors in 25.62h effective so far this year. The Weather so far does not
really cooperate, but I have managed to observe at least one night each
month so far.
-Marco
observer: Marco Langbroek - LANMA
date: 1998 June 20/21
location: Voorschoten, the Netherlands, 4d 28'E, 52d 07'N
UT Teff Lm oSco gSag tOph tAqr Spo
22:58-00:14 1.15 6.2 1 0 0 1 9
00:14-00:50 0.58 6.1 2 0 0 0 3
TOTAL 1.73 6.1 3 0 0 1 12 16
note: 20% cirrus between 00:14-00:34 UT
stream 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5
Sporadics 0 1 1 4 5 1 <3.3>
o Scorpiids 2 0 0 1 0 0
t Aquarids 0 0 1 0 0 0
>>(additional recipients...)
>To: meteors -- Robert Lunsford <lunro.imo.usa@prodigy.com>,
Dutch Meteor Society -- Carl Johannink <cjohannink@netsidedot de>,
Casper ter Kuile <pegasoft@cc.ruudot nl>,
Erwin Ballegoij <ballegoy@wxsdot nl>,
Guus Docters van Leeuwen <guusdvl@stad.dsldot nl>,
Hans Betlem <betlem@strw.leidenunivdot nl>,
Jaap van 't Leven <JVTleven@interdot nldot net>,
Jos Nijland <jnb@worldonlinedot nl>, Klaas Jobse <cyclops@zeelandnetdot nl>,
Marc de Lignie <m.cdot delignie@wxsdot nl>, Olga van Mil <pvmilnwk@boxdot nl>,
Peter Jenniskens <peter@max.arc.nasadot gov>, Peter Bus <epbus@wxsdot nl>,
Reinder Bouma <rjbouma@wxsdot nl>, Robert Haas <delpsurf@pop3.cistrondot nl>,
George Zay <GeoZay@aol.com>, Jurgen Rendtel <jrendtel@aipdot de>,
NAMN Meteorobs <meteorobs@latrade.com>,
Sirko Molau <molau@informatik.rwth-Aachendot de>,
Tim Cooper <tpcoope@mweb.co.za>, Eddy Echternach <zenit@astro.rugdot nl>,
Edwin Mathlener <e.mathlener@astro.uudot nl>,
Natasja de Bruijn <natasja@stad.dsldot nl>,
Erik Rossenberg <evanross@stad.dsldot nl>, dvgevers@wxsdot nl